we'll be together
by Funk-tastic
Summary: A collection of eremika shortfics for eremika week. Final prompt: future "They are tiny against the bright, blue green sea."
1. prompt 1: scarf

A/N: I think it's been roughly 100,000 years since I've posted anything here. Here, have some Attack on Titan shippy-stuff, because I aggressively love this stupid effing manga/anime. Enjoy!

* * *

She's in her 82nd year when he realizes that she's fading, slipping away from him. Her once beautifully black hair is silver and brittle, her eyes clouded, her skin thin and pale. She forgets things she wants to remember; too often remembers things she'd forgotten years ago.

"Eren," she says to him one day, her voice lilting over his name like it always has, "Will you come here? I'm cold."

The old man lifts his head to see her: wrapped in blankets and sitting as near to the fire as she can safely be. Her scarf is on her lap, gripped tightly in her hands.

He feels a sinking in his stomach.

"Of course," he tells her, though he struggles just a little getting out of his seat.

"Would you wrap this around me?"

"Of course," he repeats, picking up the tattered fabric and gingerly wrapping it about her shoulders. She smiles, bringing up a hand to place on his. And then, soft as a bird, she speaks:

"Thank you. It was so long ago when you gave this to me. Thank you."

His eyes are stinging, he swallows, and remembers:

_They married in the spring of 859, they had three children, raised them, watched them grow and have children of their own. They grew old, they lived alone but happy, together._

_We'll be together from now on._

The fire cracks weakly. No matter how hard he blinks he can't clear his vision.

"Mikasa," he says, and the fire finally dies.


	2. prompt 2: fight

A/N: So I decided to put these stories together, seeing as there are going to be more of them coming soon (because it's Eremika week on tumblr yay). Today's prompt was Fight.

* * *

The first time he kisses her, it's after a close call (not as though they hadn't had plenty of those). She's swinging down on her 3DMG, graceful and deadly and _safe, _thank god. He had already seen her get hurt on his behalf too many times, and he's too grateful to see her safe to even consider lecturing her for being overprotective.

She sees him running over to her, and she drops arms to her side, opens her mouth to speak and...

He presses his lips over hers, grips her shoulders tightly. He wonders briefly if he's overstepped his boundaries and begins to pull away, but she wraps her arms around his waist and holds him close. That's when he can feel her body humming against his, he can feel her heart racing in her chest.

She's _alive._

"Eren," she breathes after he pulls away, hardly daring to believe what's happened between them.

Though his face is heating up, though his lips are swollen and his pupils dilated, though there is calamity everywhere around them, he looks at her like she's the only person left on earth. He pulls her close once more and holds her in his arms.

"Why?" she ventures.

"I'm just glad you're here," he tells her around the lump in his throat. "I'm glad you're with me."

Mikasa smiles, her cheeks pink and her eyes shining.

"I'll always fight to be by your side."

"Don't ever stop," he whispers into her ear, and she swears that she never will.


	3. prompt 3: heartbeat

Eremika week day three heck yeah. I changed the rating to T, because this chapter has some slightly suggestive stuff in it.

* * *

**i**

She was a scared, lonely little nine year old girl once, though it was hard to believe it by looking at her. The moment she stepped into the Jaeger's home, she felt as though the entire world had crashed around her. This alien place was to be her house, the pretty dark haired woman and the bespectacled doctor were to be her parents, and the boy with the impossibly green eyes was to be her brother. It hit her, hard, that she couldn't go home, couldn't wrap up in her mother's arms or listen to her father's soft laughter _ever again._

Though the Jaegers were pleasant enough, _they weren't hers._

She learned Carla's name immediately; she spoke softly to Mikasa and offered gentle comfort.

"Unfortunately, we don't have a spare room. Eren," she chimed, and he turned his head, "You're going to have to share."

Mikasa saw him huff, and she felt her stomach twist and knot: what if he didn't like her?

After a tense dinner, she wrapped herself up in darkness and a thick quilt and cried, _really_cried, and she let herself soak his blankets in tears and snot.

"Hey," she heard his voice call from the doorway. "Don't cry."

Mikasa tried desperately to stifle her sniffling as he clambered into bed next to her. He laid his hand on her shoulder, settled in close. His little body radiated heat; it felt good to her.

"You must be scared. But you'll like it here, I promise."

She nodded, feeling immediately better just listening to him speak. And then:

"C'mere."

His arms wound about her shoulders. She took a deep breath, taking in his boyish smell; dirt, grass, and a hint of oranges. She wondered why he smelled of oranges.

It didn't take long for him to settle in, and soon he was sleeping soundly. And then, in a secret way, she pushed her head against his chest and let the sound of his heart lull her to sleep.

**ii**

When she saw him emerge from the neck of the rogue titan, it was like time itself had stopped. Some unknown force pulled her body into action, made her leap from the rooftops and run towards him.

Mikasa caught him, holding on tightly as he slumped into her.

Was he breathing?

Was he gone?

Frantically, she leaned down, put her head on his chest and…

_Thump._

There it was, the little noise that gave her life more meaning than any other. She felt it strong and steady.

Tears began to stream from her eyes, and she finally let out the wracked cry that she'd been holding in since the moment that she thought she'd lost him.

**iii**

By now, she'd felt him pulse, felt him hold his life against hers more times than she can count. She had learned his patterns well, learned how he moved, learned the sounds that he made.

And when it was over, she knew that he'd breathe hard and fast into the nighttime.

Tonight was nothing unusual. He pulled her in and kissed her everywhere he could, smiled against her neck, swallowed up every little gasp and moan. He was an enigma to her at times like this; fluid at one minute and then as solid as rock another. She loved him for everything that he was, and when he flopped to her side she smiled.

"Hey," he panted, grinning in his infectious way.

"Eren?"

"C'mere."

Mikasa complied without hesitation, curling into his open arms, feeling his hot, bare skin all around her. He had grown just a little in the last few months, just enough that she could tuck her head comfortably under his chin. She knew he liked that; liked feeling that he was protecting _her _for once.

She put a palm up over his sternum.

His steady heartbeat felt like a promise.


	4. prompts 4-5: cruel, beautiful world

A/N: Ah, so I've been hecka busy (thanks a lot, college) but I did find time for these two prompts. Yes, they're smushed together; I felt they worked better that way. Hope you like it!

* * *

"Let her down _slowly,_" the medic was saying. "Her ribs were already fractured and the horse ride here didn't help any. Better fetch a doctor quickly."

Eren looked down at her, quiet on her stretcher. It killed him to see Mikasa like this; in all of his memory she'd never been injured this badly. But it was almost as though she hadn't noticed, not when she rushed in to catch him as he fell from Bertholdt's grip, or when she collided with the hard ground, or when he hoisted her gracelessly onto his back to take her away to safety.

Even now she looked as though she was simply tired; her face was as calm and serene as usual.

"Eren, I'm fine."

_But you aren't, _he wanted to say, _you're hurt and it's 'cause of me._

"I'm sorry."

She gave him a little smile in return for his apology, just as Armin put a hand on Eren's shoulder. It seemed to give her comfort, the three of them being together again, and she closed her eyes against the world and let her mind close out every thread of pain.

—

Eren refused to leave her side, despite being shooed around by the young frazzled doctor that was tending to Mikasa's ribs.

When she was finally allowed to rest, laid away in bed, he sat next to her and stayed. She wasn't even awake, but he felt that if he left for even a moment, he would miss something.

It gave him plenty of time to think.

He thought about her, how she had told him that she was grateful for being taught how to live. As he sat there, so near to her, he felt ashamed of himself. Why had he pushed her away, made her feel like she was unwanted?

She was so, so beautiful in her way; strange, roughened, but always full of life, full of love. When this world had tried to destroy her, she'd always risen up to meet it.

And he knew that he wanted to be by her side the next time that she did.


	5. prompt 6: family

A/N: So these children are not my characters; they belong to rainiemallow on tumblr (yes, i got her permission) so please check that out! I also drew some fanart to accompany this fic, so I'll post that link on my profile. Enjoy, yo.

* * *

Mornings in the Jaeger household were always a riotous occasion. It would begin, roughly, at seven in the morning when Eren would realize that his bed had become crowded.

Not that he minded, of course.

Mikasa was a usual fixture; it was _their _bed after all. He was glad for those hazy dawns when he would crack open his eyes and see her lying beside him, black hair fanning over his chest and soft, warm breath ghosting on his skin. And then, almost like clockwork, the_pat-pat-pat _ of feet in the hallways outside of their bedroom.

Axel was the first to bust through the door; his small face beaming and his dark, inky eyes filled with energy. He pounced, jostling the bed frame and pushing underneath Eren's arm. Following close behind was his twin, Lowis, who was much quieter as he settled on Mikasa's side, where he clung tightly to her shirt. Of course, it wasn't long before everyone was awake; and the last addition to the pile was sleepy Carla, who'd climb up and wedge herself between her parents.

Most days, this was Mikasa's cue to wake up pull her children and husband out of bed, and get them ready for the day. But not this day -she kept them all safely tucked in her embrace, and after only five minutes, all three children had fallen back to sleep. Extra sleep was a rare, precious commodity; and she was loathe to wake the puff-faced little people from their extra hour or so.

After all was settled, she looked over Eren's face: matured, the cocky smile he'd always possessed plastered over his mouth.

"Morning," he greeted, and she pressed a kiss onto his lips.


	6. prompt 7: future

A/N: This is it man the last prompt. I am so sad but eremika smut week is coming up so maybe I will try my hand at that as well. Let me know what you think!

* * *

When the walls come down, he's a young man of nineteen. He considers himself fortunate, despite losing nearly every person he's ever held dear, despite having every shred of innocence ripped from him. This is only because he is flanked on one side by a roughened blonde with a spark in his youthful voice, and on the other is a stony faced warrior whose night-black hair has grown to tickle her shoulders.

They take their first shaking steps towards the sea only three months after the final wall has fallen, boots kicked off to feel the chilled water. It's Armin who takes the leap; shuddering happily when the salt water covers his feet and soaks his calves, crying out for sheer joy as the waves crash along the dark sand. Then Mikasa steps forward, her eyes filling with tears. They link hands and hold their breath each time the tide recedes; and Eren watches, terrified that the moment his life has lead to will be over too fast, will be too insignificant.

But his friends beckon him, call him to join, Armin's beaming sunlight-smile and Mikasa's gentle, opalescent eyes.

The three of them are so, so small against the ebb and the flow.

—

Later that night, laid up in a weather battered tent, Eren decided that he must see the rest of the glorious world. He must take his friends and go with them to the edges of the earth, and only when he has been filled to the brim by adventure would he be allowed to die.

He slept beside his dear friends and dreamt vividly of their future together.

—

When Eren turned twenty one, they had already trekked along the coasts of the west, seen many a soft, hazy mountain. They had allowed sharp, orange sand to pelt their faces. They had seen ruins of a time long before their own. Armin had made up his mind to travel endlessly, to write it all down to pass on to future generations.

And Mikasa whispered to Eren that she would have children of her own, and pass her clan's legend on to them.

Eren felt very much that he wanted to witness it.

—

At twenty two, he fell in love with a woman.

Perhaps he had already been in love with her; perhaps he'd always known. But the realization was still breathtaking.

He wrapped up in her arms one night in the middle of a cold November and it sunk in that he really was in love with Mikasa Ackerman. He told her this.

"You love _me_?"

"Yes."

She burrowed her head into his shirt, and he felt her body shaking in his grip. He held tighter.

"I love you," he said again, testing the weight of those words.

"_Eren._"

"I will sound like the biggest asshole if you don't love me back," he joked, trying to take some edge off of the situation.

"Of course I love you back," she muttered. "I've loved you the whole time."

The green eyed man laughed, and they spent the rest of the night drowning each other in fervent kisses and unrestrained touches.

—

They married in the spring of 859.

He dotted her hair with purple flowers; she dotted his face with kisses. They promised themselves to each other on that sunniest of days, accompanied only by their weather beaten friend and the whole of creation, all creatures great and small.

When Eren took her into his embrace that night and felt her heartbeat running through the length of her body, he imagined what their future would be like. Would they have children? Would their children have children? Perhaps, as the end closed around them, he would hold her hand in his and feel her ever-gentle gaze on his face.

Their shared future was more than he could have ever dreamed of.


End file.
